Descriptive Statistics of Clam Farming Activities in the Survey Sample

Table 2.8: Descriptive statistics on clam farming activities in the survey sample

Medium	Deviation standard	Small value best	Great value best
Area (ha)	2.6	2.1	1	15
Yield/1ha (tons)	22.5	7.5	15	25
Age of pond (years)	7.4	3.7	2	16
Investment cost (VND/ha)	15,000,000	-	10,000,000	25,000,000
Seed cost (VND/ha)	200,000	-	-	-
Restoration cost (VND/ha)	1,300,000	153,000	1,000,000	2,000,000
Average number of working days per year (1 ha)	330	42.5	280	350

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Source: Author's processing from survey data (2008)

According to the field investigation, the cost of clam seed is 200 thousand VND/ha, the total number of working days used for one hectare of clam farming/1 year is 330 days. The average cost for one worker is 50,000 VND/day. From that, the labor cost for 1 hectare in a year is 17.5 million VND. Thus, the total cost of clam farming is 33 million VND/ha/crop and the average estimated profit is 127 million VND/ha/crop. With 450 hectares of ponds, the profit from production for the locality is 57.15 billion VND/crop. A clam farming season usually lasts from 16 to 18 months from the time of releasing the seed to harvest, so if calculated by year, the profit from clam farming is 38.1 billion VND/year.

Value of clam seed exploitation

Since 2004, from May to July, in the core area of Xuan Thuy National Park, a relatively large natural source of clam seeds has appeared . The clam seeds are exploited by the local community to provide seeds for clam farms in the region or exported to neighboring districts and provinces.

Profits from natural clam seed resources in the wetland area at Ba Lat estuary have been

creates a strong attraction for many audiences, both from the local community and

people from far away. During peak season, there are thousands of people and hundreds of large and small boats participating in exploitation. In 2005, the community

The locality has an estimated income of 6-7 billion VND (equivalent to 35-45 tons of products). The amount of exploitation has increased rapidly, in 2007 the amount of exploited clam seeds reached 70 tons with a value of up to 12 billion VND.

2.3.5. Value of crab farming

Crab farming in Giao Thuy is a profession that appeared at the same time as tiger prawn farming. According to aquaculture households in the research area, the investment capital for crab farming is not high, one crop costs about 20-25 million VND, the farming time is only 3 months for large crabs (size: 2 cm/crab) and 4 months for small crabs (size: 1-1.5 cm/crab). When the crabs reach a weight of over 250 g, they can be harvested, so the capital is easily rotated. The feed used in crab farming is mainly trash fish, so the cost of feed accounts for very little in the total production cost. On the other hand, crab farming has taken advantage of the available water surface area and at the same time diversified the farming objects in the locality. The estimated crab farming output in 2007 reached 100 tons with a total production value of 7 billion VND.

2.3.6. Production value of seaweed

Growing yellow seaweed with brackish water shrimp has become very popular in Xuan Thuy. The time to grow seaweed starts from the end of October, November of the previous year to June, July of the following year. After sowing seeds for 40 - 50 days, seaweed is harvested for the first time, then every 30 to 35 days, the next harvest is harvested. In a seaweed growing season, it can be harvested from 5 to 7 times. The seaweed is harvested when the length of the seaweed spread is

reach 20 - 30 cm and develop to an average density of over 1 kg/m2 . Fresh seaweed when

The collected seaweed and weeds are removed, then the mud and dirt are washed with water right in the pond. Then, the seaweed is spread evenly on the drying yard (brick yard or dirt yard). The estimated yield of seaweed is 1.5 tons/ha and the amount of seaweed produced in 2007 is about 900 tons (corresponding to 6 crops and 600 ha of pond area).

Agar is a source of raw materials for processing products such as agar, agarose, phycoeritrin pigments, phycocyanin, which are widely used in the processing of medicinal materials. In addition, agar is also used as a healthy food. Agar produced in Giao Thuy is sold to local buyers. Currently, the market price of agar is quite high, about 50 thousand VND/kg. Thus, the revenue from agar in the research area is 4.5 billion VND/year.

Raising yellow seaweed is considered by the locality as a “playful, real-money” job, meaning it has high economic value while the production cost is very low. In addition to seaweed seeds produced at home, seaweed is grown directly in shrimp ponds, so there is no investment cost. Labor costs only include releasing seaweed, harvesting and drying (on average about 5 working days for 1 hectare in a 30-day crop). With a labor cost of about 50,000 VND/person/day, the total labor cost for 6 seaweed growing seasons in 2007 was 900 million VND. Therefore, the profit from seaweed growing activities in the locality is estimated at 3.6 billion VND for 2007.

2.3.7. Value of honey and aquatic product exploitation in the core zone of Xuan Thuy National Park

Honey exploitation in the core zone of Xuan Thuy National Park is an important economic source for local people. According to the assessment of the National Park Management Board, the honey output in 2007 in Xuan Thuy reached about 80 tons with flowers from the mangrove forest. With the selling price of about 25 million VND/1 ton of honey in 2007, the total value of honey exploitation in the area is about 2 billion VND.

In addition, with large alluvial plains and dense mangrove forests, the natural tidal aquatic product output in the alluvial plains is very high. Every day, about 500 people encroach on natural aquatic products in the core zone of the National Park. There are many types of aquatic products caught in the alluvial plains such as shrimp, crabs, snails and mollusks. On average, a person fishing in this area earns about 50,000 VND per day. With 500 people participating in fishing, the value of revenue from free exploitation of aquatic products in the core alluvial plains is 25 million VND/day or 9.1 billion VND/year.

2.3.2. Tourism value of Xuan Thuy National Park

Xuan Thuy National Park with its high ecological value and biodiversity is a potential ecotourism destination for domestic and international tourists. To evaluate the recreational tourism value of Xuan Thuy wetland, the thesis uses the travel cost method.

Unit

2004

2005

2006

2007

Tourist people

890

920

950

998

Tourist people

Table 2.9: Number of tourists to Xuan Thuy National Park in the period 2004-2007

domestic

international

Source: [1]

Theoretical model of tourism value assessment

The travel cost method (TCM) uses information about tourists' choices and travel behaviors to estimate the demand curve for recreational attractions, thereby estimating the value of these attractions. The basic assumption of TCM is very simple, that is, the cost of visiting a recreational attraction partly reflects the recreational value of that place.

For an individual, the utility function has the form:

Max U (x, n, q)

with constraint: M + (wT) = x + (p n .n)

In there :

U: personal benefit function x: spending on other goods n: number of visits, travel M: non-labor income

T: total time budget q: quality of tourist destination

w : salary P n : total cost for one visit

The above objective function problem when solved will give a demand function of the form:

n * (p n , M, q)

Empirically, it is possible to estimate the individual demand function directly, in which the number of visits is a function of independent variables such as travel costs, preferences, gender, and income.

The linear individual demand function has the form:

n = B 0 p n + B 1 x 1 + B 2 x 2 +...+B m x m

Where n is the number of visits by a tourist, n depends on travel costs and individual socio-economic variables [71].

When the number of individual visits to a tourist destination is small over a period of time, a regional tourism demand function (ZTCM) can be estimated. This approach determines the relationship between the rate of visits from the origin region to the study location and the total travel expenditure of the origin region.

V i = V(TC i , POP i , S i )

In there :

V i : Number of visits from region i to tourist destination POP i : Population of region i

S i : Socio-economic variables of each region.

Usually the dependent variable is expressed as (V i /POP i ) or the ratio of the number of times

visits per 1000 people [63].

Data collection

To evaluate the tourism value of Xuan Thuy National Park, the study uses a regional tourism cost assessment approach. The reason is that Xuan Thuy National Park, although having high potential for ecotourism due to its unique biodiversity and ecological values, is still poor due to tourism development factors such as roads, infrastructure, and tourism services.

Therefore, the number of tourists coming here to visit is not much, at the same time, the number of visits of a tourist to the National Park is very small, ranging from 1 to 3 times, so it is difficult to apply the individual travel cost method but must group tourists into each departure area, from which to estimate the relationship between costs and tourism rates of each area to calculate consumer surplus from tourism activities.

To collect information on the travel behavior of visitors to Xuan Thuy National Park, an interview survey of visitors was conducted in February and March 2008 in the National Park. Visitors were divided into domestic and international visitors.

The visitor interview questionnaire was designed in three parts. Part 1 introduced the purpose of the survey to visitors and outlined some ecological values in Xuan Thuy National Park. Part 2 focused on information about visitors' trips, including the number of visits to Xuan Thuy National Park, activities in the park, means of transportation to the park, and especially information about travel costs. Part 3 included personal questions about visitors such as age, education level, and income.

To address the issue of multi-purpose trips , the questionnaire also asked visitors to provide information about other attractions during their trip as well as the corresponding visit times for each attraction.

The interviews were conducted by the author and tourism management staff at Xuan Thuy National Park at the Management Board's center, where visitors gather before visiting. Some interviews were conducted on a canoe to visit the core area.

Research results

Sample characteristics

With an annual tourist population of approximately 1,000 (of which 10% are international) and using the sample size formula on page 68 to ensure reliability, 137 tourist interviews were conducted during February and March 2008. Of these, 35 were international and 102 were domestic. The socio-economic characteristics of the tourists in the study sample are presented in Table 2.10.

Table 2.10: Characteristics of domestic tourists to Xuan Thuy National Park

Characteristics Mean Standard Deviation

Minimum value

Maximum value

Number of visits (times)

1.71	1.17	1.00	5.00
Visiting time (day)	1.81	1.20	1.00	7.00
Number of people in the group	23.32	11.20	1.00	36.00
Distance from origin broadcast to national park (km)	103.87	248.47	7.00	2,117
Average income	2,625,397	1,872,205	500,000	12,500,000
(copper)
Year old	38.66	9.65	15.00	70.00
Education level (years) school	15.36	1.58	5.00	22.00
Gender (Male=1; Female=0)	0.52	0.50	0.00	1.00
Marital status	0.88	0.32	0.00	1.00
(Married=1; Single) body=0)

Source: Author processed from survey data (2008)

On average, each tourist visits Xuan Thuy National Park 1.71 times/year. Over 60% of domestic tourists visit Xuan Thuy National Park for the first time. There are two possible reasons for this: (1) Traveling is not a regular habit of Vietnamese people and

(2) Xuan Thuy National Park has not yet attracted Vietnamese tourists.

The collected information shows that the average income of domestic tourists is about

2,625,397 VND/month, higher than the average income per capita of the whole country.

900,000 VND/month. This is understandable because leisure travel is a luxury and only people with medium or high incomes can afford their leisure hobbies. The average education level of domestic tourists is 15.36 years of schooling. The age of tourists is mostly in the working age group with an average age of 38.66. About 52% of tourists in the study sample were male and 88% were married.

Table 2.11: Characteristics of international visitors to Xuan Thuy National Park

Chinese Features

jar

Standard deviation

Minimum value

Great value

best

Number of visits (times)

1.14	0.35	1.00	2.00
Visit time (days)	3.88	1.43	2.00	18.00
Number of people in the group (people)	5.83	5.60	1.00	14.00
Average income (USD/month)	5,611.11	2,068.65	2,500	10,500
Year old	47.61	13.98	28.00	74.00
Education level (years of schooling)	15.54	2.83	5.00	22.00
Gender (Male=1; Female=0)	0.64	0.49	0.00	1.00
Marital status	0.52	0.50	0.00	1.00
(Married=1; Single=0)

Source: Author processed from survey data (2008)

On average, each international visitor visits Xuan Thuy National Park 1.14 times/year, lower than the number of visits of domestic visitors. The average income of international visitors is 5,611 USD/month, most international visitors come from developed countries. The average number of years of schooling of international visitors is 15.54, higher than that of domestic visitors. The average age is 47.61, higher than the average age of Vietnamese visitors. Among the international visitors interviewed, 64% of international visitors are male, higher than that of Vietnamese visitors, and only 52% are married.

Tourist activities in Xuan Thuy

Tourist activities in Xuan Thuy are divided into two distinct trends. Foreign tourists mainly come to see birds because Xuan Thuy is a peak in the bird-watching triangle in Northern Vietnam including Phu Tho-Tam Dao-Xuan Thuy. Foreign tourists especially like to see rare birds such as spoonbills, Chinese egrets and Chinese white storks. Spoonbills are currently classified as endangered globally. At one point, the number of spoonbills decreased to about 300 individuals in the world. However, in the past 10 years, thanks to good protection, the number of spoonbills has increased to about 2000 individuals, of which the number of individuals appearing in Xuan Thuy accounts for about 20% of the total number of individuals in the world [44]

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